Kale Makeham, a former resident of Koondrook, is no stranger to performing daring stunts on dirt bikes. As a teenager, he honed his skills at the supercross track in his hometown of Koondrook and went on to win the 2012 Under 19 Australian Supercross Championship. 

Fast forward 11 years and Kale is still pushing the limits on a two-stroke dirt bike, but this time, he’s taking the challenge from the dirt to the water!

Kale first had the idea six months ago to take a dirt bike and send it “full noise” across Australia’s most prominent river.

“I planned to do it a little bit sooner, but actually broke both my wrists during a race about three months ago, so I put it on the back burner,” he said.

While Kale is at home on two wheels, this ambitious challenge was going to take some practice, and the addition of a ski.

“The past fortnight before I did it, we made the ski and I went out to a small local area with a big wet pond for a bit of practice, and then went for it.”

Kale’s practice went so well, he is yet to drown a bike. One of the big challenges is the loss of momentum as the bike’s tyre goes from churning dirt to spraying water. To help carry momentum, a sand paddle was fitted as opposed to a standard ‘nobby’ tyre, and a custom ski made at Brian Heffer Engineering in Barham. Brian helped Kale fabricate the custom metal ski that allowed the bike to glide across the water. Even with all these extras to help, there is no going past the importance of speed!

“It’s pretty well flat out in fifth gear!

“If I can get absolutely flat out, hit the water and stay nice and still, I can do about 120 metres before the bike will sink.

“The river is about 90 to 100 metres.

“If I entered the water at 100 kilometres, by 100 metres or so, I’m down to 40 kilometres an hour, and I think at about 30 or 20 it sinks.”

Kale’s years of racing experience and bike muscle memory make it look deceptively easy. 

Now, Kale is raffling off this unique Yamaha two-stroke dirt bike. The brand new bike has been fitted with $6,000 in extras. The promotion runs through a trade promotion platform, where people sign up, Kale gives them a training program and they go into the draw. A portion of the raffle proceeds will also be donated to an Australian motorcycle club.

The raffle will be drawn via live stream on Monday, October 30. 

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 26 October 2023.